Thursday, November 26, 2009

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The Carpenters Union has joined efforts with neighbors in the community to spruce up the pedestrian cut-through located on the corner of Dorchester Ave. and Howell Street.

A set of stairs were installed in the green area connecting Dorchester Ave to Washburn Street. Members of Piledrivers Local 56 fabricated the treads in the piledrivers shop. The the treads were cut to size, holes were predrilled, and the hardware to hold the treads in place was fabricated at the shop.

RDA Construction donated the greenheart timber used for the stair treads. This eco-friendly timber is used in dock and pier construction. The dense timber won’t rot when placed directly on the ground, as water cannot permeate it.

Other volunteers assembled a pergola in the green area. The douglas fir was donated by the Carpenters Union.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

On the second floor of the building a unique project is ongoing with a crew of floorlayers from Local 2168 working for Allegheny Contract Flooring. The second floor of the building, while flat, was not level, due to the quantity of drains throughout the floor from the laundry facility that used to be housed in the building.

A process called Flooding is being implemented throughout the second floor to level the floor in preparation for flooring installation that will happen in the coming months.

The crew working for Allegheny Contract will see this process through from start to finish. First, the floor is prepped using a diamatic grinder (seen below). A bonding agent primer is painted on the prepped floor. The primer bonds to the existing floor and the new self leveling cement that will be poured on top.

Crews then begin the intricate process of determining the measurements necessary to level the floor. First, they strike a grid chalk line in four or three foot squares, depending on the size of the room. They are given a benchmark, which tells them where the zero mark lies for the elevation of the floor. Orange tabs are placed along the grid system and are later cut to the necessary lengths to reach that zero mark.

Using the leveler (seen below), a reading is given to determine how high up the floor needs to be to reach the zero mark. The worker seen here takes that measurement and writes it on the ground next to the orange tab. Each tab is then cut to the correct height, which will later help determine how much cement needs to be poured over a particular section of the floor.

The pallets of portland-based cement mix can be seen below. On this particular day, Allegheny Contract was working on an 8,000 square foot area that would require around 18 pallets of Portland cement mixture.

The crew works simultaneously to flood the floor. Workers pour cement into the mixer, which then runs through a hose into another room where the floor is flooded.

The floor will be dry enough to walk across within approximately 4 hours. While the floor won’t immediately be able to handle point loads, crews will be able to work in areas where the floor has been poured within 24 hours, as long as they protect the floors and use ladders.